Lennar profit, revenue jumps; optimistic about U.S. housing

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Lennar Corp.
LEN, +0.54%
on Thursday reported first-quarter earnings that beat expectations and said it remains optimistic about the U.S. housing-market recovery. The house builder said net earnings for the fiscal first quarter rose to $78.1 million, or 35 cents a share, from $57.5 million, or 26 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue picked up 38% to $1.4 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected earnings of 28 cents a share on revenue of $1.25 billion. Lennar's Chief Executive Stuart Miller said in the earnings release that the fundamental drivers of the housing-market recovery remain intact. "We were encouraged with the progression in our first quarter as we saw sequential monthly improvement in both traffic and new orders," he said.

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